What if Sri Lanka joined ASEAN?

[Tshering22]

actually one belt one road system proposed by Chinese will had a positive impact to linking all of the trade between Asian countries and easier connectivity between peoples and nations.....

Perhaps but that road is constructed through our territory which is illegally taken by a third country and we don't approve of it.

So that's out of question.

 

[Manidabest]

it will b a good move for sri lanka ....they should go for it ..

 

[Nike]

Perhaps but that road is constructed through our territory which is illegally taken by a third country and we don't approve of it.

So that's out of question.

besides that particular case, they funding and giving loan to many countries to build roads, rail and harbor elsewhere but lets talk other issues.

One of the big issue of joining trade and investment between ASEAN and SAARC countries is the lack of cohesion among SAARC countries to had a relevant and meaningful consensus to address any economic issues. So, until now many ASEAN member countries pursuit their economic agenda in South Asia region through bilateral approach, compared with regional dialogue between ASEAN and Northeast Asia Nations through Asian +3 dialogue, it's very time consuming and wasting a lot of resources

 

[nautilaceae]

No one bothered in getting the facts right, not even Indonesian member. There's no chance of Sri Lanka joining ASEAN.

 

[alaungphaya]

No one bothered in getting the facts right, not even Indonesian member. There's no chance of Sri Lanka joining ASEAN.


View attachment 339978

Charters can be changed. They are not set in stone. Even if it can't, if there is a will, there will be a way. They could challenge the definition of SE Asia, for example.

Despite that, I don't think SL will join any time soon.

 

[NGV-H]

besides that particular case, they funding and giving loan to many countries to build roads, rail and harbor elsewhere but lets talk other issues.

One of the big issue of joining trade and investment between ASEAN and SAARC countries is the lack of cohesion among SAARC countries to had a relevant and meaningful consensus to address any economic issues. So, until now many ASEAN member countries pursuit their economic agenda in South Asia region through bilateral approach, compared with regional dialogue between ASEAN and Northeast Asia Nations through Asian +3 dialogue, it's very time consuming and wasting a lot of resources

To achieve synergistic progress as a multinational organisation you must have compatible goals, the SAARC nations don't even have this in common. The ASEAN nations are more culturally and strategically compatible with one another. Sri Lanka probably would have (due to Buddhist cultural heritage) been quite compatible with ASEAN, however the charter does state that members must be in SE Asia.

 

[Nike]

To achieve synergistic progress as a multinational organisation you must have compatible goals, the SAARC nations don't even have this in common. The ASEAN nations are more culturally and strategically compatible with one another. Sri Lanka probably would have (due to Buddhist cultural heritage) been quite compatible with ASEAN, however the charter does state that members must be in SE Asia.

the charter is not set in stone, and historically, Indonesia as a major player in ASEAN had unique habit to inviting "unique" Nations to joint ASEAN memberships. At first, no one would assuming if Communist Vietnam and politically chaotic Cambodja would ever joint ASEAN, but Indonesia diplomatic efforts bring those two to joint ASEAN, albeit need a long times to do so....

 

[wiseone2]

Charters can be changed. They are not set in stone. Even if it can't, if there is a will, there will be a way. They could challenge the definition of SE Asia, for example.

Despite that, I don't think SL will join any time soon.

ASEAN could not take a position on South China Sea
What good is the organization if they cannot support their member states in their dealings with external parties

 

[nautilaceae]

Charters can be changed. They are not set in stone. Even if it can't, if there is a will, there will be a way. They could challenge the definition of SE Asia, for example.

Despite that, I don't think SL will join any time soon.

There's no provision to arbitrarily change the ASEAN charter.

 

[Nilgiri]

There's no provision to arbitrarily change the ASEAN charter.

Yes all members will have to vote on it obviously.

Not impossible to get it re-worded though.

 

[nautilaceae]

Yes all members will have to vote on it obviously.

Not impossible to get it re-worded though.

No compelling reason for ASEAN to change its charter unless it wants to expand beyond SEA. Sri Lanka is historically tied to the subcontinent.

 

[Nike]

ASEAN could not take a position on South China Sea
What good is the organization if they cannot support their member states in their dealings with external parties

first and foremost thing you tends to forgot bout ASEAN is they are no military alliances, had no interverrences policies and mostly engaging in regional economic and cultural issues along with improvement in welfare in human development indext among their member

 

[wiseone2]

first and foremost thing you tends to forgot bout ASEAN is they are no military alliances, had no interverrences policies and mostly engaging in regional economic and cultural issues along with improvement in welfare in human development indext among their member

it is a political body

there is nothing common in culture among the member states

i do not know what economic issues they have worked on

Burma is not an issue, the real heavy weights in ASEAN are Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and Philippines, we don't have any dispute with them, instead we have warm relations with these countries and they have passively supported Bangladesh's entry to ASEAN.

wouldn't burma have a veto ?? every member has an equal say

 

[Gibbs]

Not because Singapore saw Sri Lanka as a threat to its economy, the two countries are of different economic model, SG is trading port with zero resource. Sri Lanka would be no more a threat than Malaysia, Thailand or Indonesia.

It was civil unrest within Sri Lanka that SG was concerned with. “Rajaratnam argued the [Sri Lanka]’s domestic situation was unstable and there would be trouble. Not good for a new organisation,” Sompong recalled.

In the end, Sri Lanka did not even submit an application.

That is not entirely true, In 68' the Lankan economy was more advanced or atleast on par with Singapore, Infact LKY emulated many aspects of the Ceylonese economic policies at that time in rebuilding Singapore, Colombo port was a direct competition to Singapore as a hub, LKY and other Singaporean policy makers knew this, Unfortunately for Ceylon the Civil war took over and the country regressed

Sri Lanka couldn't submit an application because it was shot down by the Singaporean president, Remember this was at the formation of ASEAN before even the charter was made, Anyway as many mentioned before a Charter is not set in stone especially multilateral ones, Clauses can be changed owing to global and strategic necessities, I think currently Singapore has a more bilaterally friendly relationship with Colombo, Rest of ASEAn especially Thailand and Indonesia have a very strong relationship with SL, If they choose i dont think there is any hurdle to include Sri Lanka in to the organization although i dont see it happening in the near future

Btw if i may ask are you a Malay or a Chinese Malaysian ?

 

[Species]

wouldn't burma have a veto ?? every member has an equal say

They can but if the heavyweights are all supporting the inclusion, they will be at a risk of diplomatic isolation so have to vote yes.